


Prodigy of the Sands

by ChloeONeil



Category: RWBY, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, F/F, Science Fiction, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25531501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChloeONeil/pseuds/ChloeONeil
Summary: Only a single mission remains between Padawan Schnee and her goal of becoming a fully-fledged Jedi Knight. However, when her final mission goes awry and her ship is sent on a collision course with the planet’s surface, Weiss must seek the help of an impulsive prodigy in order to save her captured Master.Ruby Rose is an enigma born from the sands of Tatooine. She and her sister are working towards their ultimate goal, to escape the place of their birth and venture out into the stars. Years of planning is ruined by the machinations of a greedy Hutt, but when a ship crash lands that carries just the part they need, Ruby decides to form a truce with the straight-laced Jedi in order to make both their dreams a reality.Together, they must form a dynamic duo capable of storming the gates and rescuing what was lost. The only problem is… they’ll need to learn how to work together first.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Prodigy of the Sands

Sand shifted across the barren waste, an oppressive heat from two suns beating down and urging life to crawl into every crack and crevice. The land itself was twisted and warped, the planet long since glassed in a war that no one alive remembered. Among this twisted landscape lay a canyon, a fissure in an otherwise listless expanse. It coursed through the land for miles, shattered stone and melted rock crackling outwards through the planet's surface like a long bolt of lightning.

The roar of engines could be heard throughout the canyon, tall cliff faces and spires of rock echoing the deep rumbles and high pitched whines of speeder bikes that rocketed past. The group of racers that could be found within sped by each, bobbing and weaving at incredible speeds to avoid the hard packed sand walls and towering rock that made up their terrain. They fought ferociously for position, grinding metal against metal in the hopes of eliminating their competition permanently.

In the lead sped a lithe figure, short of stature and bent over the bars of her custom speeder. The goggles over her eyes were blasted with sand, the dirty red shawl she wore covering her mouth and whipping behind her in the breeze. Engines screamed as she narrowly avoided a spire of rock, then ripped the handles of her speeder as hard as she could. The engines groaned, metal itself rattling and threatening to fall apart as she leaned away from the turn, skirting the canyon wall before taking off at a speed that was impossible to control.

At least it would have been for anyone else.

Ruby could hear the other racers fighting amongst each other, so preoccupied with second place that they stood no chance of catching up to her. She let out a loud cheer, muffled by her red shawl and drowned out by the roar of her engines. The dusty canyon walls echoed their retort, lifeless if not for the racers currently blasting by at blinding speeds.

' _Just one more lap!_ '

Yang had always warned her not to count her Krayt's before they hatched, but Ruby could sense her imminent victory. A foregone conclusion that only served to heighten her own confidence and guide her hands. Ruby could feel each twist and turn before she reached it, could tell the exact amount of punishment Yang's speeder would take before she risked tearing the engine apart.

" _And with that expert maneuver through Dead Man's Turn, Rose has taken a wide lead! She's edging away from the pack and speeding through Beggar's Canyon!_ "

The voice played loudly over the speakers that pockmarked the valley, cameras set up along each twist and turn so that the spectators at the finish line wouldn't miss a single moment of the action. Ruby saw one such camera coming up at a nearby bend, and raised a fist high. She could almost imagine hearing the deafening crowd from miles away, cheers carried across the deserted landscape and into the canyon itself.

Ruby was lowering her hand back to her handlebars in preparation for the next turn when she felt something shifting off to her left, far up along the valley's rim. The back of her neck tingled in warning, and she followed her gut instinct to swerve at the last moment. The engines screamed once more, sent suddenly careening in a serpentine maneuver meant to make her a harder target.

The hard packed sandstone near her exploded, a red bolt of energy slamming into its surface and creating a shower of loose earth and stone. Ruby tore her handlebars the opposite way in the next instant, narrowly avoiding the follow up shot that would have taken her head off otherwise. She ducked to dodge the third, feeling the heat graze her billowing shawl and miss her by a hair. She couldn't thank the shawl enough for obscuring her form, and saving her from the shot she wouldn't have dodged otherwise.

Unfortunately, due to the evasive maneuvers she'd been forced to take, Ruby's speeder careened off the main track. There were too many obstacles in the way between herself and the correct route. She bent low, aiming instead for another wide fissure in the canyon wall, knowing that it would reconnect with the track before too long. Even still she would lose time, and could already see the other racers pulling ahead before they vanished from sight.

The Tusken raiders cried out loudly in her wake, shaking their plasma rifles in frustration as she escaped their deadly clutches. Ruby cursed, ' _I'll need to do something about them on the next lap. I might not be so lucky again._ ' More than likely, one of the other racers had paid for the raiders to intervene. Ruby was a staple of the races after all, and had managed to come in first place in all nine she'd taken part in.

' _It doesn't matter. As long as I win this race, Yang and I will have enough credits to buy the last part we need and get off this god forsaken rock._ '

All she needed to do was regain first place and do something about the raiders. She let out a nervous laugh, ' _Simple enough, right…?_ '

" _Oh, and Nugen'bak goes up in flames! Someone call his mother, she's got some ashes to collect!_ "

Ruby drowned out the announcer, focusing instead on the issue at hand. She had at least one way available to defend herself, the high powered plasma rifle that she had secreted away into the side of her speeder. One flip of a switch would bring the weapon free and allow its use, laying it across her handlebars to take a potshot at the raiders. It was a desperate plan however, prone to failure due to the speed at which she was rocketing through the canyon's many twists and turns.

On top of that, she'd never actually killed anyone. Even with her own life on the line, the thought had her trembling nervously. One unlucky shot was all it would take to disintegrate one of them, a clear case of self defense that still left a bad taste in her mouth. But, if push came to shove, Ruby still valued her own life above theirs.

' _What other option is there?_ '

Ruby was nearing the cut that would return her to the track, a thin valley filled with spires of rock that proved treacherous at the best of times. She flew into the turn without slowing in the slightest, speeder groaning in protest at the abuse it was forced to endure. She threaded the needle, throwing the back end of her speeder ninety degrees so that it rumbled to a near stop before rocketing forward into the narrow crevice. The walls on each side whipped past her face, fissures of rock jutting out that she expertly avoided.

With an echoing roar, Ruby exploded back out onto the track proper, careening into the side of one of her competitors near the middle of the pack. The larger vehicle took the blow across its bow, only swerving slightly while Ruby was edged nearer the cliff face. She slowed for only an instant as he yelled and swerved to hit her, sending him flying past into the wall in her place.

Metal screamed and twisted, the front of his speeder fairing worse against the unforgiving landscape. Ruby could hear him vehemently cursing in his own garbled language, shaking a fist at her rapidly retreating form. With him down for the count, that left three other racers vying for the lead.

Ruby took stock, noting the two that were ahead of her and the one coming up behind. Vizzula was of no threat to her. The long snouted and plump Toydarian valued her own life too much, and had chosen to race in a speeder too large to compete with the lightning fast speeder between Ruby's thighs. She left Vizzula in the dust, jetting ahead through the many twists and turns until she was on the tail of the second place position.

The green skinned alien didn't notice her approach. His large red eyes glared ahead, focused on the leader currently blazing a trail in front of them. Ruby knew him from previous races and could sense the anger influencing Bobo's every move, his large speeder rumbling through the twists and turns with less caution than he might have taken otherwise. Metal screeched against every rock he passed, the Duros trying to close the gap inch by dangerous inch.

Ruby held back on her own frustrations, keeping the anger at bay and focusing on the task at hand. The way Bobo was flying through the turns left little in the way of opportunity. If she wanted to get past, she would need to look for every chance to-

' _There!_ '

Ruby didn't slow for the rapidly approaching turn. It was sharp and treacherous, a death sentence for any normal racer that didn't slow down to take it with some semblance of safety in mind. Ruby was no normal racer, though. She took risks that no other would, excelling most when a hair's breadth away from imminent death.

Bobo's eyes widened in shock as Ruby's speeder blurred past. She aimed for a section of the wall itself, eyes locked on to the suicidal route she had chosen. Ruby aimed for it, speeder bike groaning in protest as she roared into the section of the cliff face that was sloped. Her speeder climbed the side, using the wall as a ramp in which to take the turn without slowing. Ruby lay flat over her bike, the G-Forces too demanding to withstand during the desperate maneuver.

Ruby gasped for air as she came out of the turn, zipping past the front of Bobo's speeder and forcing him to break away or risk killing them both. The side of his bike slammed into a spire of rock, shredding metal that immediately went up in flames. Ruby could sense him diving from the speeder, body sent into a tumbling mass of limbs as the bike's engines caught fire and exploded.

Ruby paid no mind to the twisted scraps of flaming shrapnel raining down around her, instead focusing on her singular purpose that lay ahead. Only one competitor remained between Ruby and victory. She only needed to get past him and the raiders in one piece.

Crowds erupted in cheer around them as they turned a corner into a long stretch, stands lining each side of the narrow valley. Creatures of all races rose from their seats to wave whatever limbs they had available, either encouraging or jeering the competitors based on the bets they'd made. One portion of the stands towered above the rest, the Hutt's personal box used to watch over the proceedings with a keen eye.

As abruptly as they'd appeared, all three racers disappeared around the next bend. The open stretch had served to allow Ruby to gain on the leader, her speeder faster and sleeker than any other on the track. Muddo was well aware of her presence, and rumbled back and forth across the track to deny her attempts at passing him.

Ruby waited patiently. Half the track still remained, and unless Muddo was the buyer, there was a good chance the raiders would fire at him as well. If they did… ' _It won't be safe to hide behind him because he'll just slam me into a wall, but he might take some of the heat._ '

Ruby would have her work cut out for her if he _was_ the buyer. Her mind flickered through all the possibilities, calculating from memory the best part of the track to carry out her plans. Dead Man's Turn was her greatest opportunity, and came right before the area the raiders had posted up in. Ruby had to admit that when the terrain was taken into account, whoever planned the attack was smarter than the average desert worlder.

The stretch that the raiders occupied was more barren than most, a long flat strip that offered little in the way of cover. Ruby could picture it in her mind, trying to find a route that would offer her the best chances of escaping without being forced to retaliate. No matter how she played it out in her head however, there were always long moments where she'd be far too visible.

Approaching the most difficult turn of the race at lightning speeds, Ruby forced the raiders from her mind to instead focus on the immediate danger. Muddo was only a few feet ahead, now incapable of swerving into her way or else risk crashing himself. Seeing the opportunity for her speed and skill to be the deciding factor, Ruby took the chance presented.

Muddo cursed loudly as she sped past, his larger, more cumbersome speeder slowing in order to traverse the danger laden valley. Ruby rocketed ahead, weaving between the massive spires and dense rock formations to take the lead. Her mind's eye guided her, steering the bike with expert precision and grace that allowed her to gain a significant lead once more. Muddo's speeder thundered out of the pass seconds behind hers, hot on her tail but losing ground now that he could no longer block her way.

With the turn out of the way and Muddo eating her dust, all that remained were the raiders themselves. Ruby thought frantically, trying to figure out a way through that would nullify any need for retaliation. Even with her mind honed on the issue, each simulation she ran failed at one point or another, her speeder far too exposed for long stretches of time.

' _Guess I have no other choice,_ ' Ruby thought worriedly, reaching down with her left hand to flip one of the exterior switches next to her thigh. Hydraulics could barely be heard over the roar of her engine as a metal panel swung out and open, allowing her access to what was stored within. Her hand reached inside, fumbling nervously for a moment before releasing her long, heavy rifle.

Ruby hefted it up on to the center of her handlebars, careful to not drop it as the engine rumbled and the speeder quivered between her thighs. She trusted it to hold together. Yang had built it herself, custom parts fitted into a sleek design that proved its worth time and time again. The only part that Ruby had helped with was the red spray paint that covered half its exterior, a decal to celebrate her namesake.

Ruby readied herself as the valley approached. She angled the rifle in the direction of where the shots had come from previously, an outcropping of rock that offered shade in which to blend. With keen eyes she could see the slight shuffle of movement, the light tan cloaks contrasting against their darker surroundings as the group of raiders took aim.

' _Not today!_ ' Ruby denied them their first shot, dodging behind one of the few pillars of stone and hearing the red bolt crack against the other side. She ripped the bars at an extreme angle, whipping out of cover at an unexpected trajectory that made their follow up shots go wide. Now that they knew what to expect, they were managing to pop off rounds more quickly than before.

A few rounds were also fired off far behind her, ruling out Muddo's involvement. She could hear the explosion of metal as his engine was caught in a blast, booming out with a heavy note of finality. Without even looking back, she knew what would be found in the wreckage.

Ruby could see the promise of safety ahead. However, the distance to the bend was too far. She would need to take a shot, or risk dying in a blaze of foolish glory while so close to her goal. Failure was unacceptable, as was death. She was far too young to die, only recently hitting her nineteenth year.

With a deep breath to calm her rapidly beating heart, Ruby took aim at the Tusken's that were currently lining up their own follow up shots. She could see them panic, their bodies shifting in surprise as they noticed the long rifle in her hands. Ruby let go of her handlebars completely to lean forward across them, hefting the rifle and glaring with one eye down the scope.

Ruby could feel the moment when her shot was aligned, the exact instant that she would need to fire in order to avoid taking a life. Her finger squeezed the trigger, even as the uneven terrain did all within its power to throw off her shot. The red energy bolt erupted out, flashing in a long streak across the blistering landscape. It slammed into the boulder providing the raiders their shade, showering them with a disorienting cascade of dust and debris.

The engine of the speeder between her legs howled in triumph as Ruby righted herself, using one hand to guide it back on track while the other returned the rifle to its proper place. She swerved to avoid a boulder and leaned low across the bars, urging the speeder to eek out every iota of speed hidden within. The landscape blurred as she was finally able to return to her previous pace, before the worry of Tuskens clouded her mind.

In only a minute more, Ruby roared around the final turn into the straight stretch, the crowd erupting with applause once again. Many stood, loudly cheering and waving the stubs to their winnings, Ruby being a safe bet after nine victories in a row. She was a mere streak of red when she crossed the line, only then easing off the throttle. The speeder groaned, steam rising from the engine after the strain she'd put it through.

"You did it, Sis!"

The joyous shout could barely be heard over the rest of the crowd, but heard it she did. Ruby hopped off the bike and spun in time to be wrapped up in a pair of loving arms, her elder sister by two years incapable of holding back the pride she felt. Yang squeezed tight while Ruby hugged her fiercely in return. The cybernetic arm that Yang bore was too strong for her however, and Ruby was soon tapping out to let the older girl know she needed to breathe.

Ruby was dimly aware of Vizzula crossing the finish line. The Toydarian glared in utter hatred, the win once again secured by the ever talented Ruby Rose. She paid her no mind, knowing that she would likely never have to see her ugly blue face again.

Yang was too excited to even notice the brief exchange, and Ruby couldn't blame her. "We can finally get off this rock!" she cheered, grabbing Ruby by both shoulders and steering her towards the booths. Once they collected their winnings, it would be off to the black market for the final part they needed. Ruby and Yang had both been salvaging for years, repairing a ship they'd found that was capable of travel between systems.

There were some pieces they couldn't replace, and had instead opted to earn credits for in order to purchase them instead. Between Yang's odd jobs as a genius mechanic and the winnings Ruby earned through her races, it had only taken them three years to get to this point.

' _What a long three years it's been, though…_ ' Ruby could hardly believe it was over. The pair began their trek across the blistering sands to the awaiting attendants, ready to collect their prize money.

Ruby slowed warily however, raising a hand for Yang to do the same as the sound of the crowds suddenly lowered into an unsteady whisper. Silver eyes searched, finally spotting the cause of the commotion. Unka Hutt had appeared on screen, a translator at his side and a nasty curl to his bulging lips. He held a drink in one hand, long forgotten as he glared through the monitor at all those in attendance.

Unka's lips opened, a deep, discordant voice grumbling out. Ruby waited, already sensing discord amongst the crowd, those that knew the language growing apprehensive with each passing word.

"Our great Lord Unka has a somber announcement to make. It appears as though a racer has broken one of the few cardinal rules of our prestigious race, and carried a _weapon_ onto the track."

Ruby paled, watching as the screen changed to one of the valley cameras, zooming in and slowing down to display her firing the rifle at the Tusken raiders. There was a loud gasp from the audience, and an uproar amongst those that had bet on her, wondering what this meant for their winnings.

Unka raised his hands for silence, and began once more in that deep, grumbling baritone. Several in the crowd shouted in outrage, immediately dropping Ruby's heart in her chest. She had only used the rifle against the raiders, not any other competitors. Surely she wouldn't be-

"Ruby Rose is _disqualified!_ The presence of raiders is one of many obstacles that each racer must account for. Being fired upon does _not_ grant permission to do so in return! Victory will go to the runner up in her place!"

" _What!?_ " Yang screamed in outrage but was deafened by the rest of the crowd. Voices in a multitude of languages shouted in anger down at the pair, shaking various limbs for their substantial loss in credits. Ruby had eyes only for Unka, seeing the nasty curl his lips adopted as the verdict was announced.

' _He bet against me…_ '

It was the most obvious conclusion. With Ruby's victory a foregone conclusion, Unka had likely set up the betting in order to rake in as many credits as possible. With her managing to avoid the raiders, he'd been forced to think of a ridiculous ruling in order to disqualify her instead.

Ruby trembled in anger, hands closing into white knuckled fists as trash rained down on them from the nearby stands. The roar of the crowd was deafening, but still couldn't drown out the sound of her own pounding heart.

"Hey! Let's go!" Yang shouted urgently, grabbing Ruby's arm with a mechanical hand and snapping her out of the brief reverie. "We can't stay here!" Bits of trash and food hung out of her golden hair and dripped off her uniform. Only then did Ruby realize she was similarly decorated, her deep crimson shawl caked with foul smelling debris.

Ruby waved for Yang to follow back towards their speeder and jumped on first, waiting for her sister to take the seat behind her and wrap an arm around her waist. The engine roared back to life as they shot off, away from the crowd that was currently whipping itself into a frenzy. Ruby felt her earlier anger returning, but managed to quell it in the face of the depressing truth.

They'd bet much of their earnings on her victory. Without getting paid their winnings…

It would be a long time yet before they could escape that damned rock.


End file.
